Voice caller ID

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for audibly annunciating at a device information transmitted over a telephone network. The information is transmitted in the form of a modulated signal to the device wherein the modulated signal is representative of the information. The apparatus includes a receiver for capturing a ring signal and a modulated signal representative of information transmitted over a telephone network during an interval between the ring signal and a subsequent ring signal; a converter in communication with the receiver for converting the modulated signal into a stream of audible signals; and a speaker in communication with the converter for producing audible sounds corresponding to the stream of audible signals representative of the information received over the telephone network.

RELATED CASES

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/032,724, entitled VOICE CALLER ID, and filed on Dec. 27, 2001 nowU.S. Pat. No. 7,315,618.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The invention relates generally to telephones and more particularly toaudibly annunciating information at a telephone or in proximity of atelephone.

2. Description of the Related Art

Caller Identification (hereinafter “caller ID”) is a feature provided bylocal phone companies that sends information from the telephone networkto a telephone device between the first and second rings. Theinformation that is sent varies. It generally includes, however, thecalling telephone number and the name of the caller. This information issent via the telephone line in a digital data packet that is usuallyFrequency Shift Keyed (hereinafter “FSK”) modulated. At the receivingtelephone device the subscriber must be signed up for the caller IDservice and must have a caller ID data receiver, i.e., a caller ID unit,connected to the telephone line in order to receive the digital datapacket containing the caller ID information for the calling telephonedevice. The data receiver receives the FSK modulated digital data packetand provides a visual display of the information. In operation, thecaller ID unit receives the FSK modulated digital data packet,demodulates it and converts the information into a stream of textcharacters that is then displayed, for example, on a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) provided either on the caller ID unit or which is integralto the telephone device itself. As discussed before, for an incomingcall, the caller ID information that is displayed at the receiving sidecan include the name and number of the calling party among other typesof information. The central office must have “caller ID capability” andthe service must be enabled within the central office of the localtelephone exchange. If, however, the central office does not have callerID capability, the called party will receive a variety of messagesincluding, for example, “out of area.”

Among the information that is displayed on the caller ID unit is theoriginating telephone number and the name listed in the directory underthat number. In other words, the name that is displayed is the name thatthe telephone company has entered into a database and believes to bethat of its customer. The number in the local central office databasealso aids another database lookup and thus associates the name in thedirectory with the number from where the call originates. The callingparty's name and number information is transmitted through the centraloffice and the telecommunication network and ultimately is displayed atthe caller ID unit or on the telephone device itself. As discussedhereinbefore, such caller ID information is generally transmitted anddisplayed between the first and second rings. For caller ID to workproperly in a telecommunication environment, the telecommunicationnetwork switches must be supported by Common Channel Signaling (CCS) andthe party initiating the call must originate it from a single-channelline, a multi-channel trunk line with ANI/Calling Party ID. Further, ifthe originating line or caller blocks the transmission of the caller IDinformation, the receiving party will not be able to view theinformation or the receiving device will display, for example,“ANONYMOUS,” “NOT AVAILABLE” or “PRIVATE CALLER.”

Now turning to FIG. 1, one example of a caller ID system 10 isillustrated generally. The system 10 includes a calling telephone device12 connected to a first central office switch 18 that originates a callto a first receiving telephone device 14 connected to a second centraloffice switch 20. The call propagates through a telecommunicationnetwork 16 that provides a connection between the first central officeswitch 18 and the second central office switch 20. The receivingtelephone device 14 includes a conventional caller ID unit 22 that isseparate and detached from the telephone device 14.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a conventional caller ID unit 22.The caller ID unit 22 can include, for example, a telephone lineinterface circuit 36, a demodulator circuit 38, a control circuit 40 andan alphanumeric display 42. The control circuit 40 can be a single chipcomputer or can be implemented using discrete integrated circuitsdepending on the specific application. The control circuit 40 includes,in the most general sense, a microprocessor 44, a memory circuit 46 anda read only memory circuit 48 (ROM). The control circuit 40 alsoincludes a universal asynchronous receiver transmitter 52 (UART) and abaud rate generator 53. Also included are an address bus 50 and a databus 54 for interconnecting the various units as shown and an addressdecoder 49 for selecting various peripheral devices that the controlcircuit 40 interfaces with such as, for example, the alphanumericdisplay 42.

In operation the caller ID unit 22 receives FSK modulated caller IDsignals during an interval between intermittent ringing signals from thecentral office switch 20. The FSK modulated caller ID signals contain,for example, a channel seizure stream that is followed by a mark streamand then the actual caller ID information. The caller ID information canbe sent in a Single Data Message Format (hereinafter “SDMF”) containingthe calling number or in a Multiple Data Message Format (hereinafter“MDMF”) containing the calling number and the name associated with thatnumber. The number and name fields may contain additional data toindicate that the caller has blocked the information or that theinformation is not available. The additional data includes, for example,single bit markers that are interpreted for display.

The FSK modulated caller ID signals are received at the tip 32 and ring34 side of the telephone line. These signals are then passed through thetelephone line interface circuit 36 where they are filtered andamplified. The filtered and amplified signals are then coupled to theFSK demodulator circuit 38 where the modulated signals are converted toa serial bit stream representation of the caller ID data message. Theserial bit stream is then fed to the UART 52, which converts the serialbit stream into a parallel bit format. The parallel bit formatted streamis interpreted as a series of characters comprising the caller IDinformation data by the microprocessor 44. The microprocessor 44 thenperiodically updates the alphanumeric display 42 with each charactercomprising the parallel bit formatted stream. For additional informationregarding the caller ID unit 22, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No.4,582,956 to Doughty, which is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

Over the years the value of the caller ID unit 22 has been shadowed bythe fact that the caller ID information is only provided to therecipient in the form of a visual display. The visual display of thecaller ID information has much less value to the recipient if he or shehappens to be out of the immediate vicinity of the display. For example,if the recipient is in another room and the telephone rings, therecipient must first locate the caller ID unit 22 before he or she canidentify the caller. To address this need, several talking caller IDdevices exist. Such devices, however, are not an integral part of thetelephone and thus add to the number of appliances a user has topurchase and maintain. The talking caller ID devices do not provide areal-time announcement of the caller ID information and rely mainly onprerecorded messages and pre-stored information such as known telephonenumbers. Furthermore, the talking caller ID devices do not provide atelephone ring signal capturing function such that the telephone remainssilent until the talking caller ID device has received an entire callerID information stream.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for an apparatus, system andmethod for communicating the caller ID information to a recipient in aformat other than a visual display that is provided as an integral partof a telephone device. There is also a need to provide the caller IDinformation in a real-time format as the information is transmitted fromthe caller without relying on prerecorded messages and pre-storedinformation such as known telephone numbers. Furthermore, there is aneed in the art for a telephone ring signal capturing function such thatthe caller ID device captures and holds the telephone ring signals untilan entire caller ID information stream has been received.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, the invention provides an apparatus for audiblyannunciating at a device information transmitted over a telephonenetwork, the information being transmitted in the form of a modulatedsignal to the device wherein the modulated signal is representative ofthe information. The apparatus includes a receiver for capturing a ringsignal and a modulated signal representative of information transmittedover a telephone network during an interval between the ring signal anda subsequent ring signal; a converter in communication with the receiverfor converting the modulated signal into a stream of audible signals;and a speaker in communication with the converter for producing audiblesounds corresponding to the stream of audible signals representative ofthe information received over the telephone network.

Another aspect of the invention provides a telephone. The telephoneincludes an apparatus for audibly annunciating at a device informationtransmitted over a telephone network, the information being transmittedin the form of a modulated signal to the device wherein the modulatedsignal is representative of the information. The apparatus includes areceiver for receiving a modulated signal representative of informationtransmitted over a telephone network during an interval between ringingsignals; a converter in communication with the receiver for convertingthe modulated signal into a stream of audible signals; and a speaker incommunication with the converter for producing audible soundscorresponding to the stream of audible signals representative of theinformation received over the telephone network.

A further aspect of the invention provides a method for audiblyannunciating at a device information transmitted over a telephonenetwork, the information being transmitted in the form of a modulatedsignal to the device wherein the modulated signal is representative ofthe information. The method includes receiving a modulated signalrepresentative of information transmitted over a telephone networkduring an interval between the ring signal and a subsequent ring signal;converting the modulated signal into a stream of audible signals; andproviding the stream of audible signals to a speaker in communicationwith the converter for producing audible sounds corresponding to thestream of audible signals representative of the information receivedover the telephone network.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides an apparatus for audiblyannunciating at a device information transmitted over a telephonenetwork, the information being transmitted in the form of a modulatedsignal to the device wherein the modulated signal is representative ofthe information. The apparatus includes means for capturing a ringsignal and a modulated signal representative of information transmittedover a telephone network during an interval between the ring signal anda subsequent ring signal; means for converting the modulated signal intoa stream of audible signals in communication with the means forcapturing; and means for producing audible sounds corresponding to thestream of audible signals representative of the information receivedover the telephone network in communication with the converter.

Still another aspect of the invention provides a telephone. Thetelephone includes means for audibly annunciating at a deviceinformation transmitted over a telephone network, the information beingtransmitted in the form of a modulated signal to the device wherein themodulated signal is representative of the information. The means foraudibly annunciating includes means for receiving a modulated signalrepresentative of information transmitted over a telephone networkduring an interval between ringing signals; means for converting themodulated signal into a stream of audible signals in communication withthe means for receiving; and means for producing audible soundscorresponding to the stream of audible signals representative of theinformation received over the telephone network in communication withthe converter.

Yet a further aspect of the invention provides a system for audiblyannunciating at a device information transmitted over a telephonenetwork, the information being transmitted in the form of a modulatedsignal to the device wherein the modulated signal is representative ofthe information. The system includes means for capturing at a receiver aring signal from a telephone network; means for receiving a modulatedsignal representative of information transmitted over a telephonenetwork during an interval between the ring signal and a subsequent ringsignal; means for converting the modulated signal into a stream ofaudible signals; and means for providing the stream of audible signalsto a speaker in communication with the converter for producing audiblesounds corresponding to the stream of audible signals representative ofthe information received over the telephone network.

According to another aspect, the invention provides an apparatus foraudibly annunciating at a device information transmitted over atelephone network, the information being transmitted in the form of amodulated signal to the device wherein the modulated signal isrepresentative of the information. The apparatus includes a receiver forcapturing a ring signal and a modulated signal representative ofinformation transmitted over a telephone network during an intervalbetween the ring signal and a subsequent ring signal, the receiverproviding the subsequent ring signal to a telephone ringer afterreceiving the modulated signal; a converter in communication with thereceiver for converting the modulated signal into a stream of audiblesignals; and a speaker in communication with the converter for producingaudible sounds corresponding to the stream of audible signalsrepresentative of the information received over the telephone network.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides a telephone. The telephoneincludes an apparatus for audibly annunciating at a device informationtransmitted over a telephone network, the information being transmittedin the form of a modulated signal to the device wherein the modulatedsignal is representative of the information. The apparatus includes areceiver for receiving a modulated signal representative of informationtransmitted over a telephone network during an interval between ringingsignals, the receiver providing the subsequent ring signal to atelephone ringer after receiving the modulated signal; a converter incommunication with the receiver for converting the modulated signal intoa stream of audible signals; and a speaker in communication with theconverter for producing audible sounds corresponding to the stream ofaudible signals representative of the information received over thetelephone network.

A further aspect of the invention provides a method for audiblyannunciating at a device information transmitted over a telephonenetwork, the information being transmitted in the form of a modulatedsignal to the device wherein the modulated signal is representative ofthe information. The method includes capturing at a receiver a ringsignal from a telephone network; receiving a modulated signalrepresentative of information transmitted over a telephone networkduring an interval between the ring signal and a subsequent ring signal;converting the modulated signal into a stream of audible signals;providing the stream of audible signals to a speaker in communicationwith the converter for producing audible sounds corresponding to thestream of audible signals representative of the information receivedover the telephone network; and providing the subsequent ring signal toa telephone ringer after receiving the modulated signal.

Still yet another aspect of the invention provides an apparatus foraudibly annunciating at a device information transmitted over atelephone network, the information being transmitted in the form of amodulated signal to the device wherein the modulated signal isrepresentative of the information. The apparatus includes means forcapturing a ring signal and a modulated signal representative ofinformation transmitted over a telephone network during an intervalbetween the ring signal and a subsequent ring signal, the means forcapturing providing the subsequent ring signal to a telephone ringerafter receiving the modulated signal; means for converting the modulatedsignal into a stream of audible signals in communication with the meansfor capturing; and means for producing audible sounds corresponding tothe stream of audible signals representative of the information receivedover the telephone network in communication with the converter.

Still a further aspect of the invention provides a telephone. Thetelephone includes means for audibly annunciating at a deviceinformation transmitted over a telephone network, the information beingtransmitted in the form of a modulated signal to the device wherein themodulated signal is representative of the information. The means foraudibly annunciating includes means for receiving a modulated signalrepresentative of information transmitted over a telephone networkduring an interval between ringing signals, the means for receivingproviding the subsequent ring signal to a telephone ringer afterreceiving the modulated signal; means for converting the modulatedsignal into a stream of audible signals in communication with the meansfor receiving; and means for producing audible sounds corresponding tothe stream of audible signals representative of the information receivedover the telephone network in communication with the converter.

Yet a further aspect of the invention provides a system for audiblyannunciating at a device information transmitted over a telephonenetwork, the information being transmitted in the form of a modulatedsignal to the device wherein the modulated signal is representative ofthe information. The system includes means for capturing at a receiver aring signal from a telephone network; means for receiving a modulatedsignal representative of information transmitted over a telephonenetwork during an interval between the ring signal and a subsequent ringsignal; means for converting the modulated signal into a stream ofaudible signals; means for providing the stream of audible signals to aspeaker in communication with the converter for producing audible soundscorresponding to the stream of audible signals representative of theinformation received over the telephone network; and means for providingthe subsequent ring signal to a telephone ringer after receiving themodulated signal.

These and various other aspects of the invention are pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof.For a better understanding of the invention, however, reference shouldbe made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to theaccompanying descriptive matter, in which there are illustrated anddescribed specific examples of an apparatus, system and method inaccordance with the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Advantages of the invention may be better understood by referring to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a related art caller ID system;

FIG. 2 illustrates a related art conventional caller ID unit;

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a caller ID unit according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a caller ID unit according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a caller ID system according to thepresent invention; and

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a caller ID unit according to thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION

Turning now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer tolike elements, the various embodiments of the invention are illustratedas being implemented in a suitable general-purpose environment. In oneembodiment, although not necessarily limited to such environment, theinvention comprises in the general context an apparatus comprising atext-to-speech converter for audibly annunciating in real-time caller IDinformation at a device such as, for example, a receiving telephone. Inone form, one embodiment of the invention includes a text-to-speechconverter unit in combination with a conventional caller ID unit 22.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a voice caller ID unit 56. In oneembodiment, the voice caller ID unit 56 comprises a telephone lineinterface circuit 36 connected to the tip 32 and ring 34 lines of thetelephone line, an FSK demodulator circuit 38, a control circuit 40 anda text-to-speech converter 58. The text-to-speech converter 58 outputsan audio signal to a speaker 60 corresponding to a digital input signal,for example, such as an incoming digitally formatted caller IDinformation stream. In one embodiment, the text-to-speech converter 58processes the incoming caller ID information stream in real-time as itis being transmitted by the caller. The control circuit 40 can berealized as a single chip computer or can be realized using discreteintegrated circuits depending on the particular application. The controlcircuit 40 includes in the most general sense a microprocessor 44, amemory circuit 46 and a ROM circuit 48. The control circuit 40 alsoincludes a UART 52 and baud rate generator 53 (BRG). Also included inthe control circuit 40 are an address bus 50 and a data bus 54 forinterconnecting the various units as shown and an address decoder 49 forselecting various peripheral devices that the control circuit 40interfaces with such as, for example, the text-to-speech converter 58.

In one embodiment the control circuit 40 is configured such that thevoice caller ID unit 56 can capture and hold the ring signals from thetelephone line as well as the caller ID information relating to theoriginating telephone device 12. For example, in one embodiment thevoice caller ID unit 56 captures an incoming telephone ring signal toprevent the telephone device from ringing. The control circuit 40 can beprogrammed so as to provide the ring signal to the telephone deviceafter the entire caller ID information stream has been captured,annunciated, stored, displayed, etc. In one embodiment, this functioncan be realized by providing a separate ringer circuit 51. The ringercircuit 51 starts an oscillator 47 after receiving an enable signal fromthe address decoder 49 when the control circuit 40 has collected theentire caller ID information stream. In one embodiment, the output ofthe oscillator 47 can be provided to a voltage stepper circuit 55 togenerate a 60-80 V_(RMS) signal at 20 Hz., for example, if the ringercircuit 51 is to drive a conventional ringer. Otherwise, in oneembodiment, the output of the oscillator 47 can be provided to a logiccircuit for generating ringing tones or ringing pulses for a solid-statebuzzer or a piezoelectric type ringer.

One embodiment of the voice caller ID unit 56, among others, comprises astand-alone text-to-speech converter 58 such as, for example, aMulti-Lingual Text-to-Speech Processor ML1510, manufactured by OKISILICON SOLUTIONS COMPANY. The stand-alone text-to-speech converter 58can provide less complex functionality or more complex functionalitythan the ML1510 depending on the specific implementation of theinvention, without departing from the scope of the invention. For afurther description of the ML1510 reference is made tohttp://www.oki.com/semi/english/ml1510.htm (visited Nov. 1, 2001) thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.Those skilled in the art will appreciate, however, that there are anumber of off-the-shelf text-to-speech converters that may form aportion of the present invention without departing from its scope.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a version ofthe text-to-speech converter 58 can be realized in the form of a singlechip micro-computer using current integrated circuit manufacturingtechnology for purposes of implementing a voice caller ID apparatusaccording to the present invention, without departing from the scope ofthe present invention. In one embodiment, the text-to-speech converter58 can include for example a microprocessor 44 or micro-controller and adigital-to analog converter (hereinafter “DAC”). In addition, thetext-to-speech converter 58 can include a dictionary stored in anonvolatile memory such as the ROM circuit 48 and various temporary dataor character storage registers in the memory circuit 46. Data input intothe text-to-speech converter 58 can be in the form of, for example,standard ASCII data, 8-bit DOS data or ISO8859-1, and other suitableforms of text formats. Speech output can be provided, for example, by aninternal DAC or can be provided in digital form for interfacing withother digital systems.

One embodiment of a single chip integrated computer for implementing atext-to-speech converter 58 comprises a central processing unit (CPU)based on, for example, MOTOROLA 6000 series or INTEL 8000 seriesmicroprocessors and micro-controllers, and a DAC. Additional varietiesof microprocessor and micro-controller architectures that are well knownto those skilled in the art can be utilized without limiting the scopeof the invention. Also, a custom application specific integrated circuit(ASIC) can be used for implementing the functionality of thetext-to-speech 58 without departing from the scope of the invention.

In one embodiment, a single integrated circuit 59 can be used to combinethe caller ID decoding function and the text-to-speech conversionfunction. Accordingly, in one embodiment the text-to-speech converter 58and the control circuit 40 can be integrated in a single integratedcircuit 59 utilizing conventional integration technology. The integratedcircuit 59 as well as the text-to-speech converter 58 can be realizedusing single-chip computers comprising more advanced microprocessor andmicro-controller devices having additional features such as 16 and 32bit architectures, additional ROM space, dynamic RAM interfaces, 12 bitDACs, serial and parallel interfaces, programmable timers, speechregisters, digital signal output registers and the like. In oneembodiment, of the single chip computer, the ROM circuit 48 can provide16K of memory space, the memory circuit 46 can provide 16K or 32K of RAMmemory space and so on, depending on the complexity of the executableinstructions (firmware) required for a specific embodiment of theinvention. Furthermore, a single chip-computer also can include one ormore buffers such as, for example, eight buffer slots in a stack and thelike.

In one embodiment, the FSK demodulator circuit 38 also can be integratedin a single-chip integrated circuit to provide an even higher level ofintegration, thus reducing the size and cost of the voice caller ID unit56. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the entire voicecaller ID unit 56 can be manufactured as a single integrated circuitincluding, for example, the telephone line interface circuit 36 and theringer circuit 51.

As discussed above the caller ID information relating to the originatingtelephone device 12 can include the originating telephone number and thename associated with that number that is stored in the directorydatabase 24 in communication with the telecommunication network 16.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the stream of textcharacters can be captured at line 57 by the text-to-speech converter 58which subsequently converts the text characters into a humanlycognizable audible stream of sounds relating to the incoming digitallyformatted caller ID information. In operation the caller ID unit 22receives FSK modulated caller ID signals during an interval betweenintermittent ringing signals from the central office switch 20. In oneembodiment the caller ID information can include, the FSK modulatedcaller ID signals containing, for example, a channel seizure stream thatis followed by a mark stream and then the actual caller ID information.The caller ID information can be sent in a Single Data Message Format(SDMF) containing the calling number or the Multiple Data Message Format(MDMF) containing the calling number and the name associated with thatnumber. The number and name fields may contain additional data forindicating that the caller has blocked the information or that theinformation is not available. The caller ID information, however, alsocan include a variety of information especially as local exchangeswitches and signaling systems become more complex and provideadditional features and functionality. Accordingly, the scope of theinvention should not be considered to be limited to any specificmessage, text or character stream format or content.

The functionality of one embodiment of the text-to-speech converter 58is generally well known by those skilled in the art. For illustrationpurposes only, one embodiment of the text-to-speech converter 58 will bedescribed in general terms. Those skilled in the art will appreciate,however, that the invention should not be considered to be limitedthereto. Accordingly, in one embodiment the text-to-speech converter 58can provide one or more levels of text-to-speech synthesis, includingconverting an electronically formatted text input stream, such as astream of ASCII characters, and converting the text stream into humanlyrecognizable speech comprising sentences, words, phrases and syllables.The conversion process can be implemented by way of custom computationalgorithms stored in the ROM circuit 50, for example. When executed thecomputation algorithm can thus model human speech based on phonemescomprising various syllables and diphones, for example.

In one embodiment, the speech synthesis also can be based on pre-storedwords or phrases, for example. Transitions between phonemes may or maynot be considered by the computational algorithm. If not considered, theprocessing of the phoneme parameters can result in poor quality speech.Therefore, in one embodiment, transitions can be stored in the ROMcircuit 50 or the memory circuit 46 to provide a signal between adjacentphonemes, thereby joining two halves of the two separate phonemes into asingle combination, generally referred to as a diphone, for example. Thediphones can be utilized to generate a speech signal by thesuperposition of other diphones on phonemes in a similar way thatnatural speech is achieved. In one embodiment the speech can be achievedby a synthesis based on syllables, words or phrases at the cost ofadditional memory requirements. See for example,http://www.oki.com/semi/english/ml1510.htm (visited Nov. 1, 2001).

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a voice caller ID unit 62. Asillustrated therein, one embodiment of the voice caller ID unit 62generally includes the addition of the text-to-speech converter 58 to anexisting conventional caller ID unit 22 by tapping the output line 57 ofthe control circuit 40 that passes the stream of text characters to thedisplay 42. Accordingly, the stream of text characters is routed to thedisplay 42 and is simultaneously routed to the text-to-speech converter58, thus providing a synthesized humanly recognizable speech output atthe speaker 60 as well as a visual output at the display 42.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a system 70 for audibly announcingcaller ID information and illustrating one environment for the voicecaller ID unit 62. As described hereinbefore, the central office switch20 transmits information relating to a calling telephone device 12 thatoriginates a call to a first receiving telephone device 14. The callpropagates through a telecommunication network 16 providing a connectionbetween a first central office switch 18 to which the calling telephonedevice 12 is connected and a second central office switch 20 to whichthe first receiving telephone device 14 is connected. The firstreceiving telephone device 14 is shown herein connected to the voicecaller ID unit 62, which is separate and detached from the telephonedevice 14. Another example includes a second receiving telephone device64 having an integral voice caller ID unit 62. The second receivingtelephone device 64 receives ring signals from the central office switch20 and modulated caller ID information relating to, for example, theoriginating telephone device 12 and passes these signals through thetelephone circuitry of the second receiving telephone device 64 to thevoice caller ID unit 62.

In contrast, there is a third type of receiving telephone device 65 thatincludes an integral voice caller ID unit 63 for receiving the ringsignals as well as the modulated caller ID information. Accordingly, thethird receiving telephone device 65 can be utilized to capture the firstring and then capture the entire modulated caller ID information streambefore passing the first ring signal to the third telephone device 65.In one embodiment, the third telephone device 65 can be adapted tooperate in a GSM environment (GSM stands for Groupe Speciale Mobile,also known as Global System for Mobile Communication). Accordingly, ringsignals are passed directly to the voice caller ID unit 63 rather thandirectly to the third telephone device 65. The voice caller ID unit 63traps the ring signals, thus keeping the third telephone device 65 quietwhile the voice caller ID unit 63 receives all of the caller IDinformation. The voice caller ID unit 63 releases the ring signals tothe third telephone device 65 once it has received the entire stream ofcaller ID information, for example. The caller ID information is thenprocessed through the voice caller ID unit 63 that outputs an audibleannunciation of the caller ID information. The ring circuit 51 can beused to output the ring signal to the telephone device 65 when thecontrol circuit 40 enables it via the address decoder 49, for example.

Turning now to FIG. 6, where one embodiment of a voice caller ID unit 72is illustrated. In one embodiment, the voice caller ID unit 72 can beused in conjunction with an advanced call-waiting service forannunciating a number while the user is already using the telephonedevice 74. The voice announcement can provide standard caller IDinformation in addition to the caller's telephone number over the voicecaller ID unit 72. The internal hardware connection for implementing oneembodiment of the voice caller ID unit 72 is similar to the hardwarecurrently provided with the advanced caller ID hardware. With theconventional caller ID display 42 the user can re-display the messagefrom a call in order to re-read it, for example, while with the voicecaller ID unit 72 the user can re-route the audible speech signal to thespeaker in the telephone's 74 handset.

In one embodiment, the audio channel output 76 of the text-to-speechconverter 58 can be routed to an existing telephone line within afacility or residence and re-route the audio channel output 76 from thetext-to-speech converter 58 to the telephone's 74 handset or a speakerphone 80 of another telephone within the building or residence. Routingthe audio signal back into the telephone's 74 handset may require, forexample, one or more matching networks 78 having a high enough impedanceto preserve the audio signal. One example of a matching network 78 thatmay be incorporated can be found in a product sold by BELL SOUTHnormally referred to as a privacy director. The privacy director seizesthe incoming call and routes it to a recording machine that plays aprerecorded announcement stored therein. The privacy director thenconnects to the number that has just called and plays back therecording. Because there is no other audio path the privacy directormakes use of a bridge tap to closes the path to the incoming call andopens a path to the recording, for example.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that to prevent unwantedannunciations, in the middle of the night for example, the voice callerID unit 56, 62, 63, 72 can be adapted to work in conjunction with ascheduler. In addition, the voice caller ID unit 56, 62, 63, 72 also canbe adapted with an ON/OFF switch to selectively engage the voice callerID unit 56, 62, 63, 72. Furthermore, just as with the conventionalcaller ID unit 22, those skilled in the art will appreciate that thevoice caller ID units 56, 62, 63, 72 can be filtered to block callsoriginating from certain numbers, or permit calls originating only froma list of predetermined numbers that can be entered into the memorycircuit 46 of the voice caller ID unit 56, 62, 63, 72, for example.

While several embodiments of the invention have been described, itshould be apparent, however, that various modifications, alterations andadaptations to those embodiments may occur to persons skilled in the artwith the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the presentinvention. It is therefore intended to cover all such modifications,alterations and adaptations without departing from the scope and spiritof the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. An apparatus for audibly annunciating information transmitted over anetwork using a signal representative of the information, the apparatuscomprising: a receiver for receiving the signal representative of theinformation transmitted over the network, the signal comprising a streamof characters representative of the information; a control circuit forcapturing a ring signal received from the network, wherein the receiverprovides a subsequent ring signal to a telephone ringer after receivingthe signal representative of the information transmitted over thenetwork; a converter in communication with the receiver for convertingthe signal representative of the information into a stream of audiosignals; and a speaker in communication with the converter for producingaudible sounds corresponding to the stream of audio signalsrepresentative of the information received over the network, wherein theconverter is in communication with one or more matching networks, theone or more matching networks operative to reroute and forward thestream of audio signals to a speaker in an alternative communicationdevice.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is adapted tooperate in a wireless network environment.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the converter is a multi-lingual text-to-speech converter. 4.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is in communication witha telephone device.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising amemory circuit in communication with the receiver for storing theinformation.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a processorfor converting the signal into a stream of characters representative ofthe information.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a memorycircuit in communication with the processor, wherein the processorstores the stream of characters representative of the information in thememory circuit.
 8. An apparatus for audibly annunciating informationtransmitted over a network using a signal representative of theinformation, comprising: a receiver for receiving the signalrepresentative of the information transmitted over the network, thesignal comprising a stream of characters representative of theinformation, the information being directed to a communication device; acontrol circuit for capturing a ring signal received from the network,wherein the receiver provides a subsequent ring signal to a telephoneringer after receiving the signal representative of the informationtransmitted over the network; a converter in communication with thereceiver for converting the signal representative of the informationinto a stream of audio signals; and a speaker in communication with theconverter for producing audible sounds corresponding to the stream ofaudio signals representative of the information received over thenetwork, the speaker producing the audible sounds corresponding to thestream of audio signals during use of the communication device by auser.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the communication device is atelephone.
 10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus isadapted to operate in a wireless network environment.
 11. The apparatusof claim 8, wherein the converter is a multi-lingual text-to-speechconverter.
 12. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a processorfor converting the signal into a stream of characters representative ofthe information.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising amemory circuit in communication with the processor, wherein theprocessor stores the stream of characters representative of theinformation in the memory circuit.
 14. An apparatus for audiblyannunciating information transmitted over a network using a signalrepresentative of the information, comprising: a receiver for receivingthe signal representative of the information transmitted over thenetwork, the signal comprising a stream of characters representative ofthe information; a control circuit for capturing a ring signal receivedfrom the network, wherein the receiver provides a subsequent ring signalto a telephone ringer after receiving the signal representative of theinformation transmitted over the network; a converter in communicationwith the receiver for converting the signal representative of theinformation into a stream of audio signals, the audio signals comprisingthe stream of characters converted into at least one of words andphrases; and a speaker in communication with the converter for producingaudible sounds corresponding to the stream of audio signalsrepresentative of the information received over the network.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is adapted to operate in awireless network environment.
 16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein theconverter is a multi-lingual text-to-speech converter.
 17. The apparatusof claim 14, wherein the apparatus is in communication with a telephonedevice.